Punjab-origin director of pizza company disqualified in UK

LONDON : Balwinder Singh, the Indian-origin director of a Worcester shire-based pizza company, has been disqualified as a company director for diverting funds he had secured from loans to a partnership in which he had a personal interest, officials said.

The Insolvency Service said Singh, 58, was the sole registered director of Ch a rn wood Foods Ltd but an investigation found that he “unreasonably caused payments of at least £205,000 to the partnership he had a personal interest in”.

The company went into liquidation with no assets on August 26, 2015, owing an estimated £358,816 to creditors, of which £308,233 was owed to a bank as loan. Singh’s misconduct, accepted by him, was that he breached his fiduciary duties as director of the company when he made the payments that were at the risk of, and to the detriment of, the company and its creditors.

He also failed to deliver adequate accounting records to show that such payments were reasonable, the service said.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification can not act as a director of a company; take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership; and be a receiver of a company’ s property.

A PROBE FOUND THAT HE UNREASONABLY CAUSED PAYMENTS OF AT LEAST £205,000 TO THE PARTNERSHIP HE HAD A PERSONAL INTEREST IN